MANCHESTER, NH – Sunday afternoon in Manchester, the Jacksonville Icemen (12-22-3-2 29 points) finished up a three game road trip through the North Division by finishing up a two games in two days tilt with the North Division leading Manchester Monarchs (23-14-3-1 50 points). Jacksonville won the game between the two teams Saturday night 4-2 on two goals by Bobby MacIntyre. A Jacksonville win Sunday afternoon would give the Icemen a 3-0 record on its northern trip, having defeated Worcester 5-3 Friday night.
The same two goals that played Saturday night started again Sunday afternoon. Colton Phinney (3-6-1-1, 3.02 goals against average) for Jacksonville and Branden Komm (6-4-0-0, 2.97 goals against with Manchester) for the Monarchs.
It did not take long for scoring to start on Sunday and it was Jacksonville that started it. Off a Monarchs turnover in their zone, the puck was stopped by Brendan Collier who quickly passed the puck over to MacIntyre who was alone on the side of the net to Komm’s glove side. MacIntyre quickly one-timed it into the net for his eighth goal of the season. The only assist went to Collier at 1:28.
A little over three minutes later, Manchester tied the game when Spencer Watson beat Phinney from out in front of the net. For Watson, it was his sixth goal of the season. Assists on the goal went to Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman and Francis Beauchemin. The goal came at 4:55.
That was the way the score remained until there was a little over ninety seconds left in the period. At 18:26, LaVallee-Smotherman recorded his 20th goal of the season from in front of the net. Assists would be awarded to Watson and David Kolomatis. There were be no more scoring in the period that ended with Manchester leading 2-1.
Jacksonville outshot Manchester 12-9 and each team had four minutes in penalties. In fact, Jacksonville started the second period on the power play.
Jacksonville opened the second on the power play but it would be Manchester that scored short-handed first when Francis Beauchemin got his second of the season at 31 second mark with no assists awarded.
Jacksonville got an opportunity at the power play again and this time, they converted with MacIntyre’s second goal of the game and ninth of the season when he slid the puck under Komm. Collier and Tim Daly got the assists at 3:04.
At 7:35, Manchester increased the lead back to two when Keegan Iverson recorded his third goal of the season, scoring from point-blank range on Phinney. The only assist was awarded to Zac Lynch.
Just over two minutes later, Manchester increased the lead to three on the power play on Justin Agosta’s first goal of the season. Assists were awarded to Colton Saucerman and Lynch on the goal that came at 9:44.
At the 16:19 mark of the period, Manchester increased the lead to four on Alexx Privitera’s first goal of the season, off assists from LaVallee-Smotherman and Matt Marcinew. Just twenty seconds later, Manchester would score again, this time with Matt Schmalz getting his 12th of the season, on assists from Eric Schurhamer and Kolomatis at 16:39. Manchester was still not done in the period when at 18:48, Agosta got his second goal of the game and the season off assists from Schmalz and Colin Saucerman. Thankfully, the period then ended for Jacksonville but Manchester had scored six in the period and led after two 8-2.
Manchester outshot Jacksonville in the second 15-13 but Jacksonville led the game total after two 25-24. On the penalty side of the ledger, the second period was filled with two fights and two game misconducts called, one on Jacksonville’s Garrett Klotz and the other on Manchester’s Keegan Iverson. Jacksonville had 33 penalty minutes called on them in the second (37 after two) and Manchester was hit with 30 penalty minutes (34 after two).
Jacksonville did make a goalie change for the start of the third period, Austin Lotz replacing Phinney. After that, the first half of the third period was scoreless, as it wasn’t until 11:25 into the period that someone would score and that would be Manchester as Marcinew scored his eighth of the season, off assists from Watson and LaVallee-Smotherman. Manchester didn’t stop there. Less than a minute later, at 12:12, Schmalz recorded his second of the game and 13th of the season, with the only assist going to Beauchemin.
Jacksonville would then get back on the scoreboard, ending the streak where the Monarchs had scored seven straight. Dajon Mingo scored his second of the season at the 16:54 mark off assists from Christopher Dienes and Tanner Eberle on the power play. Fifteen seconds later, Jacksonville scored again when Eberle beat Komm for his 13th of the season with Mingo and Josh Erickson getting assists. That would be the last of the scoring as Manchester won 10-4.
Icechips: Manchester outshot Jacksonville in the third 8-6 and for the game 32-31… The game still saw it’s fair share of penalties in the third as Jacksonville was assessed 21 penalty minutes while Manchester had 7. For the game, Jacksonville had 58 penalty minutes, Manchester 41… The three stars of the game all came from Manchester: 1st—Justin Agosta, 2nd—Matt Schmalz and 3rd—Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman…Attendance for the game was 1,632… Jacksonville’s next game is at home Wednesday night against South Carolina while Manchester’s next game is Saturday night when they travel to Wheeling to play the Nailers.
Contact the author at kenneth.holdren@prohockeynews.com
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